Two Former Cards Farmhands Catch on Elsewhere

Dustin Mattison

11/20/2007

Former St. Louis Cardinal farmhands and Memphis Redbirds Troy Cate and Edgar Gonzalez have been picked up by other organizations.

29-year-old second baseman Edgar Gonzalez has been signed a to minor league deal by the San Diego Padres. The older brother of the Padres' first baseman, Adrian, the elder Gonzalez hit .308 (tops on the Redbirds) with eight home runs and 53 runs batted in playing mostly second base at Memphis.

The San Diego native was granted his release from the Cardinals organization on September 27. He had originally been drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 20th round of the 2000 draft.

A six-year minor league free agent, Troy Cate signed on with the Oakland Athletics for 2008. Cate had to know that he was not in the Cardinals' long-term plans when he was removed from the 40-man roster and designated for assignment on September 14.

The lefty swingman posted a 3.38 ERA in 14 Major League games for the Cardinals in 2007. It was his MLB debut. Cate really struggled down the stretch for Memphis, as he ended the season with a record of 2-5 with a 6.81 ERA in 33 games, nine of them starts.

Cate, 27, was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in sixth round of the 2002 draft and was added to the Cardinals' 40-man roster on this date in 2006.